MUELHEIM AN DER RUHR (Germany), Mar 8:
Top Indian shuttlers, including double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and World Championships silver and bronze winners Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, progressed to the second round of the German Open, here today.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal also made an impressive start at the USD 180,000 Super 300 badminton tournament after struggling with fitness issues due to injuries and illness in the last few months.
Seventh seed Sindhu trounced Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-8 21-7 in a lop-sided contest after Srikanth, seeded 8th, saw off France’s world number 39 Brice Leverdez 21-10 13-21 21-7 in 48 minutes.
It was Sindhu’s 15th win over the world number 11 Thai player, while Srikanth too extended his head-to-head count over Leverdez to 4-0 after this victory.
Sindhu, a 2019 world champion, will meet China’s Zhang Yi Man next, while world number 11 Srikanth will take on China’s Lu Guang Zu.
Srikanth, who was forced out of the India Open Super 500 event in January after testing positive for COVID-19, has a 2-0 head-to-head record against the Chinese, ranked 27th.
Later in the day, Sen, who had claimed the India Open title in January, dished out a superb performance to outwit Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-6 22-20.
Saina, meanwhile, had to dig deep to stave off a challenge from Spain’s Clara Azurmendi with a 21-15 17-21 21-14 win.
Sen will now square off against fourth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, while Saina is likely to take on eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon.
In other results, Indonesian pair of Adnan Maulana and Mychelle Crhystine Bandaso ended the campaign of India’s Dhruv Kapila and Gayatri Gopichand with a 21-19 21-19 win, while Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan and Ashna Roy were no match for Italian combination of Martina Corsini and Judith Mair, losing 9-21 10-21.
The mixed doubles pair of Sai Pratheek K and N Sikki Reddy endured a difficult time against top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand, going down 19-21 8-21 in their opening match. (PTI)
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